I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil way, that I might observe your word.
I have not turned away from your ordinances, for you have taught me.
Parallel Translations
-
I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil way, that I might observe your word.
I have not turned away from your ordinances, for you have taught me.
-
I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
Show all 3 translations
-
I understand more than mine elders, because I have keep Thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way, in order that I might observe Thy word.
I have not turned aside from Thine ordinances; for Thou hast instructed me.
Cross-references (26)
- Proverbs 1:15 (v101) My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path,
- 1 Peter 3:10-11 (v101) For, “He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from…
- 1 John 2:27 (v102) As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing…
- Psalms 18:21 (v102) For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
- Proverbs 5:7 (v102) Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
Show all 26 cross-references
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (v102) For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the…
- Psalms 111:10 (v100) The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
- Jeremiah 32:40 (v102) I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their…
- James 3:13 (v100) Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
- Job 12:12 (v100) With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
- Job 15:9-10 (v100) What do you know that we don’t know? What do you understand which is not in us? With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,…
- Job 28:28 (v100) To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
- Psalms 119:104 (v101) Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
- Isaiah 55:7 (v101) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God,…
- Jeremiah 8:8-9 (v100) “ ‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?” But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie. The wise men…
- Ephesians 4:20-24 (v102) But you didn’t learn Christ that way, if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: that you put away, as…
- 1 John 2:19 (v102) They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that…
- 1 Kings 12:6-15 (v100) King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give…
- Job 32:4 (v100) Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were elder than he.
- Psalms 119:59-60 (v101) I considered my ways, and turned my steps to your statutes. I will hurry, and not delay, to obey your commandments.
- Isaiah 53:6 (v101) All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- Matthew 7:24 (v100) “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.
- Titus 2:11-12 (v101) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,…
- 1 Peter 2:1-2 (v101) Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of…
- Psalms 18:23 (v101) I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
- Job 32:7-10 (v100) I said, ‘Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v101 101. I have restrained my feet from every evil…
101. I have restrained my feet from every evil path He intimates that he proclaimed war against every vice, that he might wholly devote himself to the service of God. From this we learn the profitable lesson, that in order to our keeping God’s Law, we must, from the commencement, beware lest our feet should step aside into crooked by-paths; for with a nature so corrupted as ours is, amidst so many allurements, and with minds so fickle, we are in the greatest danger of being led astray; yea, it is a rare miracle if any man hold on in his life in a right course, without turning aside in one direction or another. The faithful, therefore, have need to exercise the greatest circumspection, in order to keep their feet from going astray.
In the next verse, David commends his own constancy in observing the Law. He declares that ever since he had learned from God the right manner of living, he had pursued the right course. As the way is so slippery, and our feet so feeble, and our whole disposition so prone to go astray after innumerable errors, no small exertions are requisite on our part, in order to avoid declining from God’s judgments. But we must attend to the manner of teaching to which the Psalmist refers; for though all, without exception, to whom God’s word is preached, are taught, yet scarce one in ten so much as tastes it; yea, scarce one in a hundred profits to the extent of being enabled, thereby, to proceed in a right course to the end. A peculiar manner of teaching is, therefore, here pointed out — that which consists in God’s drawing his chosen people to himself. I have been brought, as if the Psalmist had said, into the way of salvation, and preserved in it by the secret influence of the Holy Spirit.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v102 So then of ourselves we can do nothing: but…
So then of ourselves we can do nothing: but when God doth inwardly instruct us with his spirit, we feel his graces sweeter than honey.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv100–102 Psa 119:100 I understand more than the ancients, because…
Psa 119:100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
Ver. 100. I understand more than the ancients] Whom yet age, use, and experience have taught much; but by the practical study of the word I outgo them all; with reference to those hoary heads, the seniors of the Synedrion, be it spoken, Non prolixa facit sapientem barba.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv100–102 By which reason he intimates that the practice of…
By which reason he intimates that the practice of religion is the best way to understand it, and that men’s vicious hearts and lives are the greatest hinderances of all true and solid knowledge of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv101–102 Here is, 1. David's care to avoid the ways…
Here is, 1. David's care to avoid the ways of sin: "I have refrained my feet from the evil ways they were ready to step aside into. I checked myself and drew back as soon as I was aware that I was entering into temptation." Though it was a broad way, a green way, a pleasant way, and a way that many walked in, yet, being a sinful way, it was an evil way, and he refrained his feet from it, foreseeing the end of that way. And his care was universal; he shunned every evil way. By the words of thy lips I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer, Psa 17:4. 2. His care to be found in the way of duty; That I might keep thy word, and never transgress it. His abstaining from sin was, (1.) An evidence that he did conscientiously aim to keep God's word and had made that his rule. (2.) It was a means of his keeping God's word in the exercises of religion; for we cannot with any comfort or boldness attend on God in holy duties, so as in them to keep his word, while we are under guilt or in any by-way.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv100–102 Through thy precepts I get understanding,.... Of the will…
Through thy precepts I get understanding,.... Of the will of God; of his worship, the nature and manner of it; of his ordinances, their use and importance; and of his doctrines, and the excellency of them;
therefore I hate every false way; of worship; all superstition and will worship, the commandments and inventions of men, and every false doctrine; all lies in hypocrisy, for no lie is of the truth; every thing that is contrary to the word of God, and is not according to truth and godliness. The Targum is,
Read full note →
"I hate every lying man.''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv100, 102 Because - The practice of religion is the best…
Because - The practice of religion is the best way to understand it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv100–101 Verse 100. I understand more than the ancients] God…
Verse 100. I understand more than the ancients] God had revealed to him more of that hidden wisdom which was in his law than he had done to any of his predecessors. And this was most literally true of David, who spoke more fully about Christ than any who had gone before him; or, indeed, followed after him. His compositions are, I had almost said, a sublime Gospel.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v101 Psa 119:101-102. I have refrained, &c., from every evil…
Psa 119:101-102. I have refrained, &c., from every evil way — Every way which either is evil, or leads to evil; sin, and the temptations or occasions of sin; that I might keep thy word — Not for any worldly or carnal reasons, as some men abstain from divers sins for their credit or advantage: but out of pure respect to thy word; for thou hast taught me — Namely, by thy blessed Spirit illuminating my mind, and working in my heart, which other teachers cannot do.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv100–102 I understand more than the ancients - Hebrew, The…
I understand more than the ancients - Hebrew, The old men. It does not refer, as the word “ancients” does with us, to the people of former times, but to aged men. They have treasured up wisdom. They have had the advantage of experience, of study, and of observation. They, therefore, like teachers, become a standard by which we measure our own attainments, as the boy hardly hopes to gain that amount of knowledge which he observes in people who are venerable in years, and who are remarkable for their acquirements. Compare Job 12:12 : “With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.” Job 32:7 : “I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.” Compare 1Ki 4:30-31. Yet the psalmist says that he “had” reached this point, and had even gone beyond what he had once thought he could never attain.
Because I keep thy precepts - It is all the result of an honest endeavor to do right; to observe law; to keep the commands of God. Obedience to the law of God will do more than any mere human teaching to make a man truly wise.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv100–102 100. I have more discernment than the aged] It…
100. I have more discernment than the aged] It is not official ‘elders’ who are meant, but those whose long life has given them opportunity to learn by experience.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v100 (100) Ancients.—Or, more probably, as the LXX. and Vulg.,…
(100) Ancients.—Or, more probably, as the LXX. and Vulg., and the old versions generally took it, old men.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv100–102 I understand more than the ancients; or, "the aged."…
I understand more than the ancients; or, "the aged." Advanced age does not necessarily give wisdom. (see Job_32:7-9) "Antiquity is no help against stupidity" (Luther). Because I keep thy precepts . (comp. ver. 104 and Joh_7:17)
Human teachers and the Bible itself.
Read full note →
"I understand more than the aged, because I have kept thy precepts." This is no mere boasting, no invidious comparison. It is the recognition of the fact that the man who is taught of God knows what no human teacher can teach. The human teacher has a limited range; the Divine Teacher transcends it. But the Word of God, the Scriptures of the Divine revelations, are the agencies God uses for imparting the higher knowledge. It is necessary to say that what God teaches is not a mere advance on what man teaches. It is other than man teaches. Man deals with the surface of things; God deals with the inmost of things. Man keeps within the agency of limited human language; God can teach through spiritual sensibilities. It is true that he uses the written Word; but it is not true that he confines himself to the formality of the Word. He teaches through the spiritual feeling which the Word excites. There is much made of a comprehensive, all-round education, but it is not enough insisted on that this must include the Divine teaching.
I THE NECESSARY LIMITS OF HUMAN TEACHINGS.
1. They are limited by the mental capacity of those who teach and those who are taught.
2. They are limited by the imperfection of the vehicle by which human knowledge is conveyed. No human word has the same connotation for every one who uses it, and few words keep the same connotation for one man through a long life.
3. They are limited by the variableness of the material at their command. New facts are continually displacing old ones, and new theories condemning old ones. In science, a book ten years old is comparatively useless.
4. They are limited by the range over which they extend, which is compelled to keep away from all knowledge of God and the things of God. "Who by searching can find out God?" And yet it is in that higher range of knowledge alone that man"s true nature can be unfolded. The queen of sciences is theology.
II THE DIVINE TEACHINGS BEYOND THE HUMAN LIMITS. Is man only a mind? Many seem to think of him as having no more than a mental organization. A man is a spiritual being, kin to God, having for his present agency and use a body and a mind. The Divine range is the soul, which is the man himself. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv100–102 Ver. 100. I understand more than the ancients, because…
Ver. 100. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. The men of old age, and the men of old time, were outdone by the holier and more youthful learner. He had been taught to observe in heart and life the precepts of the Lord, and this was more than the most venerable sinner had ever learned, more than the philosopher of antiquity had so much as aspired to know. He had the word with him, and so outstripped his foes; lie meditated on it, and so outran his friends; he practised it, and so outshone his elders. The instruction derived from Holy Scripture is useful in many directions, superior from many points of view, unrivalled everywhere and in every way. As our soul may make her boast in the Lord, so may we boast in his word. "There is none like it: give it me, "said David as to Goliath's sword, and we may say the same as to the word of the Lord. If men prize antiquity they have it here. The ancients are had in high repute, but what did they all know compared with that which we perceive in the divine precepts? "The old is better" says one: but the oldest of all is the best of all, and what is that but the word of the Ancient of days
Ver. 100. I understand...because l keep. Would we know the Lord? Let us keep his commandments. "By thy precepts, "saith David, that is, by the observance of thy precepts, "I get understanding." "If any man do my will" (saith our blessed Saviour, Joh 7:17), "he shall know my doctrine." boulei yeololov lenesyai? tav entolav fulasse, saith Nazienzen: Wouldst thou be a divine? do the commandments; for action is (as it were) the basis of contemplation. It is St. Gregory's observation concerning the two disciples who, whilst Christ talked with them, knew him not; but in performing an act of hospitality towards him, to wit, breaking bread with him, they knew him, that they were enlightened, not by hearing him, but by doing divine precepts, Quisquis ergo vult audita intelligere; festinet ea quae jam audire potuit, opere implere, Whosoever therefore will understand, let him first make haste to do what he heareth. Nathanael Hardy, 1618-1670.
Read full note →
Ver. 100. I understand more than the ancients. The ordinary answer of ignorant people is, "What! must we be wiser than our forefathers?" And yet those same people would be richer than their forefathers were. The maximum quod sic of a Christian is this, he must grow in grace, till his head reach up to heaven, till grace is perfected in glory. Christopher Love, 1618-1651.
Ver. 100. More than the ancients. Understanding gotten by the precepts of the word is better than understanding gotten by long experience. It is better in four regards. First, It is more exact. Our experience reacheth but to a few things; but the word of God reacheth to all cases that concern true happiness. The word is the result of God's wisdom, who is the Ancient of days; therefore exceeds the wisdom of the ancients, or experience of any men, or all men. Secondly, as it is more exact, so a more sure way of learning wisdom, whereas experience is more uncertain. Many have much experience, yet have not a heart to see and to gather wisdom from what they feel: De 29:2-4. Thirdly, it is a safer and cheaper way of learning, to learn by rule, than to come home by weeping cross, and to learn wisdom by our own smart. Experience is too expensive a way; and, if we had nothing else to guide us, into how many thousand miseries should we run! Fourthly, it is shorter. The way by age and experience is a long way; and so, for a long time, all a man's younger age must needs be miserable and foolish. Now, here you may come betimes to be wise by studying the word of God. It concerns a man, not only to be wise at length, but to be wise betimes. The foolish virgins were wise too late: but never were any wise too soon. Condensed from Thomas Manton.
Ver. 100. If this way the Word of God were thus perfect in David's time, what is it by the addition of so many parcels of Scripture since? If it then gave wisdom to the simple (Ps 14:7); if it made David, being brought up but as a shepherd, wiser than his enemies, than his ancients, than his teachers; as an angel of God in discerning right from wrong (1Sa 14:17); able to guide the people by the skilfulness of his hands (Ps 78:72); what kind of wisdom is there, which we may not now gather from thence? What depth of natural philosophy have we in Genesis and Job! What flowers of rhetoric in the prophets! What force of logic in Saint Paul's epistles! what art of poetry in the psalms! What excellent moral precepts, not only for private life, but for the regulation of families and commonwealth in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes! To which may be added in a second rank as very useful, though apocryphal, the Book of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus. What reasonable and just laws have we in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, which moved the great Ptolemy to hire the Septuagints to translate them into Greek: what unmatchable antiquity, variety, and wonderful events, and certainty of story, in the books of Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, the Kings, and Chronicles, together with Ruth and Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah, and, since Christ, in the sacred Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. And, lastly, what profound mysteries have we in the prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel, and the Revelation of Saint John. But in this it infinitely exceeds the wisdom of all human writings, that it is alone "able to make a man wise unto salvation" (2Ti 3:15). Upon these considerations, Charles the Fifth of France, surnamed The Wise, not only caused the Bible to be translated into French, but was himself very studious in the Holy Scriptures. And Alphonsus, King of Arragon, is said to have read over the whole Bible fourteen several times, with Lyra's notes upon it; though he were otherwise excellently well learned, yet was the law of God his delight, "more desired of him than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." George Hakewell, 1579-1649.
Ver. 100. Antiquity no security for truth as contrasted with revelation: old age no proof of wisdom as contrasted with holy living: open confession no evidence of boasting as contrasted with sullen pride.
Ver. 100. Obedience the high road to understanding. W.B.H.
Ver. 100. Obedience the key of knowledge. Joh 7:17.
Psalms 119:101*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v101 I have kept my feet back from every evil…
I have kept my feet back from every evil path
Avoiding doing what is evil is spoken of as if it were avoiding walking on paths that are evil. AT: "I have avoided doing what is evil" (See: Metaphor)
Read full note →
kept my feet
Here "feet" represents the whole person. AT: "kept myself" (See: Synecdoche)
observe your word
"obey your word" or "observe your commands"
I have not turned aside from your righteous decrees
Continuing to obey God's righteous decrees is spoken of as if the writer has not physically turned away from the righteous decrees. This can be stated in positive form. AT: "I always obey your righteous decrees" (See: Metaphor and Litotes)
translationWords
evil
word of God
turn
righteous
decree
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.